Seven Reasons to Consider Radiant Heating for Your Home

Radiant heating is considered by many to be the Cadillac of heating systems. Found mostly in new construction and additions because it has to be installed underneath the floor.

Here are seven reasons to help you decide if radiant is a good choice for your home:

1. Heat works more from the ground up, allowing temperatures to be 3-5⁰ F higher on the floor than the ceiling compared to other heating methods.

2. The system allows for a more flexible room layout since there is no baseboard or vents for homeowners to design furniture around. Also has the benefit of being installed in a concrete slab allowing you to heat your garage or basement floor.

3. There will be no disturbing noises in the heating system. The only sound will come from the boiler usually found in the mechanical room or basement of your home.

4. Radiant is a more green heating option because it has a record of reducing energy usage due to lower indoor temperature settings and allowing boilers to operate at lower temperatures, which in turn prolongs the boiler lifespan.

5. Considered a cleaner system than forced hot air because of dust particles, that are blown through the vents of the hot air system.

6. There are two main types of radiant; electrical and hydronic. Electrical is the more common to retrofit single rooms or bathrooms. Hydronic uses water forced through tubes places in special panels that run under the floor.

7. The heat is not run along the outside walls, reducing the heat loss and allowing the system to be run for a shorter amount of time before reaching desired temperatures.

Hopefully this article will help you in deciding if radiant is the right heating source for you in your next project. This is the first part in a series of posts that will be discussing different heating methods for your home. Topics will include: oil vs. gas vs. propane, hydroair systems, forced hot air, forced hot water baseboard, and are high efficiency boilers worth it? Any questions about heating systems of your own please post below or contact us through our website.